It is generally known that conventional FETs may include one or more paramagnetic defects in the gate oxide and/or at the gate oxide-semiconductor interface in the form of electron traps. Under certain operating conditions, a paramagnetic defect may randomly assume either of two possible trapped electric charge states that correspond to two possible spin orientations of an electron trapped in the defect. Spin flips between the two spin orientations may be converted by the FET to electric charge, which may be detected as a corresponding change in the source/drain current.
Semiconductor devices employing magnetic spin transport are also known. Such devices typically include at least one ferromagnet-semiconductor interface whereby current entering the semiconductor through the interface generally has a net spin polarization. Field effect transistors (FETs) incorporating such spin injection effects may typically include, for example, a source and a drain each electrically contacting a different ferromagnetic film, and it is known to selectively orient the magnetization of one of the films, e.g. the drain film, to be parallel or anti-parallel relative to the magnetization of the other film, e.g. the source film.